A Pachirisu Christmas
by DragonBlade152
Summary: Christmas at Morgan's house takes a turn for the weird.


Whew, only took me an entire freaking year to finish. Don't know why it was so hard. Enjoy!

* * *

Morgan bounced in the entryway, boots squeaking on the vinyl floor. She was bundled up head to foot and ready to get their Christmas tree while the other nine members of her family were still putting on coats and hats. Emily, the oldest, shot Morgan a dirty look. "Calm down, Morgan. Sheesh."

Morgan stuck out her tongue. "Just because you take forever to put on a stupid scarf."

"Shut up and help Chase with his coat."

Morgan made a face, but helped five year old Chase zip up his coat. It was one of those extra poofy kinds and was just a little bit too large. She giggled. He looked like a bright blue marshmallow.

"Don't laugh at me," Chase said, pouting. "It's not nice. Santa won't bring you anything if you're not nice."

Morgan gave him a hug. "I'm not laughing at you. You're just too cute." She helped him with his hat and gloves. "Just stay by mom, okay? You almost got lost last time."

Chase made a face.

"Hey," Morgan tapped his nose. "You have to be nice too, remember? Or else you'll get coal in your stocking."

"Why?"

"Because coal's dirty and you can't use it for anything."

"Except burning," Kory, the only other boy, said. "It does that really well."

"No, Kory," their mom said.

Kory made a face.

Once everyone was bundled up their dad opened the door. "All aboard!"

Everyone headed outside to the full-size van that they used whenever the whole family went somewhere. A glare from their mom silenced any arguments about seating arrangements, and soon they were all inside, driving through the snow towards the mountains.

"Snow took its dear sweet time," Hannah, Morgan's second oldest sister, said.

"Yeah." Morgan breathed on the window and drew a snowman. "I thought we weren't going to get the tree until Christmas Eve."

"Just because that's tomorrow," Julia, a year younger than Morgan, said.

"At least it came. That's something, right?"

Julia just humphed and looked away. Morgan grinned as she stared out the window. They had a tradition that they didn't get the tree until either it snowed or Christmas Eve, whichever came first. Julia, betting on it not snowing before Christmas, had made plans with her friends that day. Naturally, it had snowed. Sometimes Morgan wondered if the weather just liked to mess with them.

"Stop smiling like that," Emily said. "You look like a creep."

Morgan stuck out her tongue. "Just because I know how to smile."

"Shut up."

"Yes, miss grumps."

"I mean it, squirrel."

Morgan bristled and stared out the window. She'd had that nickname ever since grade school, and she still hated it. Being called that repeatedly during the whole Pachirisu thing hadn't helped, either.

They made it up the mountain without further arguing, although Chase spent the entire time bellowing Christmas songs at the top of his lungs. Morgan, never one to be down for long, joined in after only a couple of minutes. They finally arrived at the parking lot of a trail Morgan always forgot the name of and tumbled out of the van. Chase finally stopped singing and tugged on his dad's coat. "Where's the tree, dad? Is it super far away?"

"Not far away at all," their dad said. "Best tree within miles."

Morgan spun around, kicking snow up all around her. "You always find the best one!"

Her dad grabbed her by the shoulders and spun her around even faster. "That's because I'm the best tree finder this side of the Mississippi, Smiles."

Morgan fell on her back, laughing. Leslie, seven and the second youngest, tugged on Morgan's hand. "Come on, Morgan. Let's get the tree!"

Morgan scrambled to her feet. Her dad got the chainsaw from the back of the van, and they followed him into the trees. The snow got to be knee deep only a couple hundred yards in. After about five minutes Chase started complaining.

"Who wants to give him a piggyback ride?" Morgan said.

Emily rolled her eyes. "You do."

"You're bigger than I am."

"You're the one who's always running around like the freaking energizer bunny."

"She has a point," Hannah said.

Morgan sighed. "You guys just don't want to. Jerks." She knelt in the snow. "Come on, Chase."

Chase managed to climb up on her back, and she stood.

"You're getting heavy," Morgan said.

Chase tightened his grip a little. "You're not calling me fat, are you?"

"Nah. I mean you're getting bigger. Soon you'll be carrying me around."

Chase giggled. "That sounds fun."

They started off again. After a minute Morgan was trailing after the others. The snow was starting to get deeper, and they were heading uphill as well. Hopefully the tree wasn't much further.

"Hurry up, Morgan," Chase said. "Everyone's beating us."

"We can't have that, can we?" Morgan hiked Chase up higher on her back and bounded through the snow until they were even with their dad. "How much farther is it?"

"Just over there." He pointed to a tiny spot of orange above them on the hill. "You can just see the tag."

Chase whooped. "Let's go, Morgan!"

Morgan grinned and looked over her shoulder. "Ready, set, go!" She took off, followed by everyone except their parents and Emily.

The tree was farther than Morgan had thought, and she was thoroughly out of breath by the time she reached it. Chase hit the orange tag with their family's name on it. "I won!"

"You mean I won," Morgan said as she let him down. "I carried you all the way up here."

"But I hit the tag first."

"Split it with you."

Julia came up next, panting. "How the heck did you do that?"

Morgan struck an epic pose. "Superpowers!"

"Super squirrel powers, maybe," Hannah said as she came to a stop next to Julia.

Morgan stuck her tongue out.

Leslie came up. "Shannon's having trouble."

"Superpowers to the rescue!" Morgan waded back down the hill. Shannon, third youngest and arguably the lightest, was struggling against snow that was waist high in some places. She didn't look up as Morgan arrived.

"Want a piggyback ride?" Morgan said.

Shannon shook her head.

"How about a hand?"

Shannon took Morgan's hand, and Morgan helped pull her through the snow. They got to the tree just a few moments before Emily and their parents.

"So who won?" their dad said.

"Me and Morgan did," Chase said. "She carried me and I hit the tag."

"Sounds like teamwork. Stay clear now." He started up the chainsaw.

Morgan flopped onto her back and started making a snow angel. Soft thuds signaled that others were doing the same. She was just getting up when Chase screamed. Everyone was immediately up and running over.

"What is it?" Their mom said.

"I got snow down my coat," Chase said.

Emily facepalmed. "You don't need to scream about it."

"It was cold."

Morgan scooped up some snow and put it down the back of Emily's coat. Emily shrieked and spun around. "You little—"

Morgan took off, with Emily in hot pursuit.

"Run faster, Morgan!" Kory yelled. "She's gonna catch you!"

"You are so dead!" Emily said.

Morgan ran until Emily stopped and almost doubled over, wheezing.

"Truce?" Morgan called from a safe distance.

"I'll get you later."

"Truce it is." Morgan went back to the rest of the family.

"Morgan," her mom scolded. "Don't put snow down people's coats."

"Yes, mom."

Their dad finished cutting down the tree and tied a couple of ropes to the trunk. "All right, who's pulling?"

Everyone grabbed a rope, and they started off. About halfway down Chase tugged on Morgan's coat. "I'm tired. Will you carry me?"

Morgan let go of the rope and let Chase climb up onto her back again. As Morgan started off again Shannon let go of the rope and took hold of Morgan's coat, using it to help her get through the snow. By the time they got back to the van Morgan was sweating.

"Well, I'm ready for a nap," she said.

Shannon looked at the ground. "Sorry," she said in her usual nearly-inaudible voice.

Morgan set Chase down and gave her a hug. "I don't mind. Although I totally vote that when Chase gets big enough he carries both of us."

Shannon gave her a faint smile. By that time the rest of the family had arrived with the tree. Once the tree was secured to the top of the van they piled back in and headed home. The tree was taken from the top of the van, brushed down to get rid of the snow, and inside the house in hardly any time at all. Once it was tucked into its corner of the living room the real chaos began. Lights and tinsel everywhere, ornaments scattered around in their plastic-bag packaging, and everyone doing odd little dances trying to avoid stepping on anything or anyone. Somehow everything made it onto the tree. Their mom disappeared for a minute, returning a minute later with a cardboard box filled with small wrapped packages. Morgan started bouncing in anticipation. Every year their grandparents sent each grandchild a special ornament, and they weren't allowed to see what it was until the tree was up.

"All right, gather around," their mom said as she started handing out packages. Once everyone had theirs she said, "Ready, set, go."

Morgan tore off the striped paper and gasped. Hers was a glass reindeer, caught in the act of leaping. "Wow," she said as she held it up.

Emily bumped into her hard. "Oops."

The glass reindeer slipped from Morgan's hand. It seemed to hang in the air for a heart-wrenching second before hitting the ground and snapping both antlers off. For a few moments there was only silence.

"Oh dear," their mom said.

Hannah giggled in spite of herself. "You mean, oh reindeer?"

"Not funny, Hannah," Julia hissed.

Morgan managed a smile, albeit a somewhat wavering one. "It's all right. Nothing a little glue can't fix." She picked up the broken ornament. "I'll go fix it. You guys can finish up." She escaped to her mom's craft room at the back of the house and set the pieces on the table before wiping the moisture from her eyes. Emily had done it on purpose, she was sure of that. And all she'd done was put a little snow down Emily's coat. Jerk. She found some glue and carefully reattached the antlers, then sat down to wait.

Hannah came in a few minutes later. "You okay?"

"Yeah. Just waiting for the glue to dry."

"Dad says we'll put the star on when you come out."

"'Kay." Morgan tested the antlers. They didn't slide. "Looks like it's dry enough. Let's go."

As they went out Hannah said, "Sorry for the 'oh reindeer' joke."

"It's okay. It was actually pretty funny."

Everyone else was in the living room, some waiting more patiently than others.

"Took you long enough," Emily said.

Morgan held up the ornament. "Glue has to dry, remember?"

"One antler's crooked."

"Like you could do any better."

"Of course I could."

"Children," their dad said. "Peace on earth, remember?"

Emily huffed and looked away.

Morgan hung up her ornament. One antler was a little crooked, but from a distance you couldn't even tell. Their dad put the star on top of the tree and plugged the lights in. There were oohs and aahs from the younger members of the family. Morgan jumped up. "Time to bring presents down!"

Everyone else stood and followed her upstairs. Morgan went to the room she and Julia shared and pulled a stack of wrapped presents out from under her bed. First season of the original Hawaii Five-O for dad, earrings for mom, snow globe for Emily, necklace for Hannah, butterfly cell phone dangle for Julia, a book on catapults for Kory, rosin for Shannon, a scarf for Leslie, and a Hot Wheels car for Chase. That was it. She gathered them all up and went into the hall.

"Ow!"

Presents went flying everywhere as Morgan ran into someone. "Sorry!"

"Watch it," Kory said as he started picking up his fallen presents.

Morgan scrambled to pick up her own presents. When she touched Emily's she felt moisture. "Uh oh."

"It's not broken, is it?"

"Afraid so."

Kory made a face. "That sucks."

"Everything should be open tomorrow morning. I'll just buy another one." She tossed the broken snow globe away before taking the rest of the presents down and putting them under the tree. Hopefully Emily wouldn't notice.

The next morning Morgan bundled up. She was just about to head out the door when Shannon came into the entryway. "Can I come, too?"

"Sure." Morgan pulled her hat down a little. "Leslie going crazy again?"

Shannon nodded.

"If she's still going wild when we get back you can practice in my room. Julia said she'd be gone pretty much until the party."

"Thanks."

Shannon finished putting on her hat and gloves, and they went outside. It was starting to snow again. Morgan stuck her tongue out, trying to catch a few flakes. When she finally caught one she giggled. "Tastes like Christmas. So are you all ready for the party?"

Shannon shrugged.

"You'll do great."

Shannon shrugged again. Morgan grinned. Shannon played the violin, and she was an absolute genius at it even though she was only eight. She'd also occasionally ask to practice in Morgan's room when Leslie was in one of her moods or going hyper over something. Mrs. Carson, whose family always held a huge party for the whole neighborhood every Christmas Eve, had even asked Shannon to play something this year.

It was about a fifteen minute walk to the knickknack store where Morgan did most of her Christmas shopping. The bell tinkled as they came in and stomped the snow off their boots.

"Last minute gift?" the cashier said.

"Yep." Morgan said. She wandered down the aisles until she came to where the snow globes were. There were only two kinds left: cheap tiny ones and really expensive ones. She was about to get one she could afford when she saw one on a shelf lower down. A ballerina in glittery white stood on tiptoe surrounded by tiny evergreens. A music box formed part of the base, and when she opened it Für Elise started playing. One of Emily's favorite songs. It was perfect.

Morgan looked at the price and counted the money in her wallet. Just barely enough. She took the snow globe to the checkout. The cashier rang it up. "Seventeen twenty eight."

Morgan facepalmed. "Forgot about sales tax." She counted out the sixteen fifty that she had, then started digging around in her pockets with the hope that something had fallen out of her wallet. Nope, nothing. She was just about ready to give up and get a smaller snow globe when Shannon tugged on her coat and held out a dollar bill. Morgan smiled. "Thanks. I'll pay you back."

Shannon shook her head.

"You are the absolute best." Morgan handed the dollar to the cashier.

The cashier counted out the change and gave it to Morgan, then wrapped the snow globe in tissue paper and put it in a bag. "Have a merry Christmas."

"You too." Morgan took the snow globe, and they headed back home.

"Will you listen to me after lunch?" Shannon said as they reached the door.

"Of course. I love listening to you."

Shannon gave her a tiny smile, and they went inside. Morgan managed to smuggle the snow globe up to her room without anyone asking her questions, then came down for lunch. After lunch she went back up with Shannon. While Shannon got her violin Morgan straightened her bed and sat on it. She'd have plenty of time to wrap Emily's present later.

Shannon came in, sat down on Julia's bed, and got out her violin. After she warmed up she started playing a selection of Christmas songs. Morgan listened, swaying a little in time to the music. When Shannon finished Morgan clapped loudly. "That was awesome!"

Shannon turned a little red as she put her violin away. "Thanks for listening."

"Any time."

"Which one did you like?"

"All of them." Morgan scratched her nose. "I think my favorites were Angels We Have Heard on High and O Holy Night. Oh, and Oh Come, Oh Come Emmanuel. That one was really good, too."

"Morgan!" their mom called from downstairs.

Morgan made a face. "Hope I'm not in trouble. I need to ask her about wrapping paper anyway." She went downstairs into the kitchen. "Yes, mom?"

Her mom was mixing dough, covered in flour up to her elbows. She smiled when Morgan came in. "Could you help me with the Christmas baking? Everyone else disappeared."

"Sure thing." Morgan got a clean apron from the towel drawer and washed her hands. "Oh, do we have any more wrapping paper? Emily's present broke, so I had to get her a new one."

"We don't have any down here. There might be some in the attic, though."

"Okay. I'll look when we're done."

For the next three and a half hours Morgan helped with making all sorts of Christmas goodies. Some were placed in bags and Tupperware containers to take to the party while the rest were put into the fridge for later. By that time her mom was starting dinner, so she stayed to help with that. Once dinner was over she shot upstairs.

The attic was accessed by a narrow door in the back of the linen closet, which led to a set of just-as-narrow stairs. Morgan stopped in the linen closet for a moment and breathed deep. She loved the smell of clean sheets and towels. It took a little bit of fiddling to get the lock open. The attic door squeaked when she opened it, and a cold burst of air washed over her.

"Hope it's not in the back," Morgan muttered as she started up the stairs. She'd just reached the top when the door slammed shut. Probably a draft. Or Emily being a troll. If Emily even knew she was up here.

It took almost half an hour of sorting through boxes of old hand me downs and long forgotten seasonal items before Morgan found a roll of wrapping paper. It was a little musty, but there was enough for Emily's present and then some. It was a pretty cute print, too, little cartoon penguins ice skating and making snowmen. She went back down the stairs and tried to open the door. It was locked.

"Crap."

Morgan looked for the lock, but couldn't find it. Must only be on the other side. Maybe she could text someone. No, her phone was in her room, charging. Crap. She banged on the door and yelled for a good ten minutes, but no one came. They might have left for the party already. But wouldn't they notice that she wasn't there? Unless everyone was being noisy. She banged on the door for another minute before giving up and looking for another way out. The only thing she found was a small window that was too small for even her to squeeze through. She opened it anyway and stuck her head through. The van was gone. Yep, they left without her. She closed the window and sat on the bottom step, close to the door where it was warmer. Head on knees, she tried not to cry.

Morgan woke up not remembering having gone to sleep. The first thing she noticed was that the handrail was higher up than she remembered. Way higher. The second thing she noticed was that her hands were paw-like and furry. "Crap."

She looked herself over. Yep, Pachirisu again. What the heck? She hadn't even been doing anything this time. So what was she supposed to be doing now? And how was she supposed to get back to being human?

"Why do I get the feeling that something hates me?" she muttered as she went back up the stairs.

There was nothing unusual in the attic, so she tried the window again. It took a bit of finagling, but she finally managed to get it open. It had started snowing again. She peered through the fat flakes, but didn't see anyone. Good. A squirrel as big as her with blue and yellow on it that could open windows would probably cause a bit of a ruckus. She managed to get onto the rain gutter and down the drain pipe without getting hurt. Might as well see how much fun people were having without her.

Mrs. Carson lived a couple of blocks away. Morgan ran through people's backyards to avoid being spotted by anyone on the road. By the time she got to Mrs. Carson's house she was panting a little. Sheesh, knock off a few feet and suddenly everything seemed a lot farther away. When she reached her destination she stopped for a few moments to enjoy the view. The house was huge, built by Mrs. Carson's late husband to house their twelve children. Or was it thirteen? Morgan could never remember. Every year, the day after thanksgiving, half the neighborhood came over to help Mrs. Carson decorate. As a result it was always the best looking house in town. Morgan had even been allowed up on a ladder this year.

Morgan dashed across the street and over the fence. As she jumped down into the side yard she heard voices. One of them sounded like Emily. Morgan crept around to the backyard. Emily was indeed out there, next to a pine tree, facing a guy about her age with bleached hair.

"Seriously, Skyler, leave me alone," Emily was saying.

"Come on, babe, don't be like that."

He reached for her arm, but she swatted his hand away. "It's over, Skyler. Just drop it already."

"Hey, don't be like that."

"We're done. Go hang out with Ashley or whoever you're cheating with now."

Oh, maybe that's why Emily had been so grumpy lately. Morgan managed to get into the pine tree without being seen.

"Come on, babe," Skyler said. "I promise it won't happen again."

"You've already said that twice now. We're through." Emily started marching off.

Skyler started going after her. Morgan went out on a branch at head height and said, in as creepy of a voice as she could manage, "Leave her alone, jerk."

Skyler jumped and looked around. "Who's there?"

Morgan managed to keep from giggling. "Someone who's going to hurt you if you keep it up."

Skyler was starting to look panicked. "Seriously, who are you?"

Emily had stopped and was staring at him like he was crazy. "Are you okay?"

"This is your last warning," Morgan said.

Skyler scooped up some snow and started throwing it everywhere. "I'm not afraid of you!"

Morgan zapped him just hard enough for it to hurt. He yowled in pain. "Okay, okay!" He ran off in the opposite direction of Emily.

Emily took a step towards the tree. "Hello? Is there someone there?"

Morgan covered her mouth to keep from giggling. After a few minutes Emily muttered, "Freaking nut job," and went around to the side yard.

Morgan came down from the tree. Good. Now hopefully the creep would leave Emily alone. She went to one of the windows. It was too high for her to see through, and she definitely couldn't just sit on the sill. Instead she got onto the roof and leaned over the edge. Everything was upside down, but she could still make out what was happening. It looked like everyone was having a good time. Guess they didn't need her after all.

The snow under Morgan slipped, and she fell with a squeak. She got up and dusted the snow off of her. At least she didn't get hurt. "Stupid snow."

The back door opened, and a guy Morgan thought was in Emily's class poked his head out. "Is someone out here?"

Morgan bolted for the tree, hoping he hadn't seen her. He did, though, because he came out and headed towards the tree. "Hello?"

As he got closer Morgan recognized him. He'd helped her get her backpack out of a tree when she'd gotten it stuck there while goofing off. What was his name again? Oh well. He was nice. That gave her an idea. As he got closer she said, "Come here."

He stopped, then cautiously approached. "Who are you?"

Morgan hesitated for a second. Her real name probably wouldn't be the best idea. "The Ghost of Christmas Present."

"You sound a lot like Emily's little sister."

"How could I be Emily's little sister if I'm a disembodied voice? Speaking of Emily, you should go talk to her."

"What?"

"Go talk to Emily. She's in the east side yard."

"Why?"

"She needs someone to talk to. Trust me. Now go on. Shoo."

The guy didn't move for a second, staring at the tree. Then he shrugged. "Sure, disembodied voice that sounds like Emily's sister. Guess I'll humor you this once." He walked towards the side yard.

Morgan waited until he was going around the corner before leaving the tree, scampering over to the corner, and climbing up the rain pipe to the roof. From there she could see the guy approach Emily.

"Hey," he said.

Emily turned. "Oh, hi, Logan. What are you doing out here?"

He grinned. "The Ghost of Christmas Present told me to talk to you."

"Ghost of Christmas Present? Are you serious?"

Logan shrugged. "In all honesty it sounded like one of your sisters."

"Which one?"

"The hyperactive one."

"Morgan?"

"Yeah."

Emily rolled her eyes. "Figures. What did she want you to talk to me about?"

"I don't know. I didn't even see her."

They stood there in silence for a bit.

"So I heard you and Skyler broke up," Logan finally said.

Emily looked away. "Yeah, but the idiot won't leave me alone."

"Want me to stick close for the rest of the night? I'm pretty good at scaring him off."

Emily managed a smile. "If you want to."

"Hey, that's what Christmas is for, right? Besides, you've always been fun to hang out with."

They started heading inside.

"So your little brother started a new trend," Logan said.

"What's that?"

"He mixed eggnog and chocolate milk. Everyone's drinking it. Want to try some?"

The door opened and closed. Morgan almost squealed in happiness. Maybe Emily would be happier now that she had a new boyfriend. She climbed back down and went to stand under the window. After a few minutes she heard a violin. Shannon must be playing. Morgan smiled as she listened. Shannon really was good. Once the final strains of the last song, O Holy Night, had died away Morgan headed for home. She'd better get back to the attic. All the doors would be locked anyway.

Morgan climbed back up to the attic window, went inside, and closed it. As she was heading for the stairs she tripped over something in the dark and tumbled down. She smacked her head on the door, and everything went black.

Morgan woke to someone knocking on the attic door. "Morgan?" her mom called. "Are you in there?"

Morgan did a quick check. Yep, human again. "Yeah. Could you unlock the door, please?"

The door opened. Morgan's mom gave her a hug. "There you are. Why didn't you call or something?"

"My phone was charging."

Her mom let her go and started brushing the dust off of her. "I thought I saw you in the van, but Chase was bouncing off the walls. Mrs. Carson was wondering where you were."

"Sorry. The door got blown shut and locked itself."

"There's always next year. Did you find the wrapping paper?"

"Yeah." Morgan picked up the wrapping paper. "Guess I'd better go wrap that present now."

Morgan headed to her room. Everyone else was downstairs, so she managed to wrap the snow globe in record time. She'd smuggle it down later. As she was going down the hall Emily came up the stairs. "There you are. Where were you?"

"Locked in the attic."

Emily put her hands on her hips. "Seriously? Because Logan said he heard you tell him to talk to me."

Morgan managed her best confused face. "Really? Because there was no way I could get out of the attic. You know, because I'm not magic or a ghost or something."

Emily tried staring her down, then looked away. "Well, thanks anyway."

"For getting locked in the attic?"

"For, you know, always being happy and crap. I guess I haven't been the nicest person lately."

Morgan went over and gave Emily a hug. "That's okay. You're still the best oldest sister I have."

Emily hugged her back. "Sorry about your ornament."

"Sorry about putting snow down your coat."

Emily let go after a minute. "Why were you in the attic, anyway?"

"Present problems," Morgan said, rubbing the back of her neck. "I needed wrapping paper and mom said we didn't have any down here."

"It was mine, wasn't it."

"Yeah. But it's all good now. I just need to take it down."

"You might as well grab it now. We're going to be setting out cookies soon."

"Okay. Be right down."

As Morgan went into her room and grabbed Emily's present she smiled to herself. It was going to be a good Christmas after all.

* * *

Fun fact: I actually don't know the procedure for getting a live Christmas tree. My family always used a fake one. Also, chocolate milk and eggnog are actually really good together.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!


End file.
